Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-03
HOW PROTECTION WORKS.
How the Tariff Eobs the American Farm

and the "mob of consumers" He says:
In my last two letters on the subject of
how farmers are taxed l have somehow
anticipated the regular order of
my design; l have known our
dear good natured American
"Hodges" how they are oppressed by
the sugar duty and swindled on the salt
tax. These two articles are, of course,
used in the house. l ought to have begun
the expose of the CREST tariff robbery on
the materials the farmhouse, barns and
stables are built of. l will make good
this omission to-day. OF course we all
know that timber and lumber is the ma
terial from which farm Installations, barns
and stables are built. Well, then, the
tax on every 1000 feet OF lumber not
planed or finished is 81. OF this class
OF lumber we imported in 1856
S5,243, 1876 worth, and the Treasury
received $685. 4S duty on it. That this
lumber is enhanced 80 per 1000 feet to the
consumer, whether imported or produced
in Maine or Michigan, is as clear as the
sun at MONDAY. Now, our friend Hodge,
in Kansas or Iowa or Nebraska, having
lived in shanty for seven years, raising
wheat or corn, and receiving for his pro-
! duct Gas l have clearly proven over and
don or Paris, and who, therefore, is not
beholden in any way or manner to
an enhancement OF prices by the
mock duty tina. tariff tricksters
/ have put on foreign wheat and corn, has
| saved enough money, laid by during, say
( seven years, stinting himself in all sorts
of manner, to build what he considers s
nice house for Mrs. Hodge and the
children. OF course in doing so the chief
material used is lumber, but in steps the
tariff and says pay toll of 50 on every
| 1000 feet of lumber you use on the
| premises. If Farmer Hodge were not &
| ho(d)g(e), but reasonable, intelligent
American citizen, he would first
of all know that he does pay
tax Of 81 or every 1000 feet OF
lumber, and 1 honestly believe there
are not 10 per cent of the 3O,OOO,O0O of
the Hodge family, comprising men,
women and children, VINO know the fact
and understand it. Suppose now, the in
telligent Hodge who does understand this
fact were to ask the following question:
Why should l pay 81 per 1000 feet on
! lumber when the Treasury is OVERLOOKING
with en- annual surplus of 800, 900 900?
The answer he would get would be IS
follows: You see, friend Hodge, there il
the state of Maine and the state of Michi-
gan, where we grow our own native aristO-
cratic timber; and that our timber is
aristCcratic IS perfectly demonstrated by
its dimunitive srd puny size and calibTe,
Just the same as the true sristCcratiC de
scendants OF long line of blue-bIOcded
ancestors Of France or Spain are known
by their puny and dimnutiVe statures
Well, then, we must first Of all protect
our aristOCIatic timber and lumber, be
cause it cannot compete with the pauper
lumber of Canada, which has not drop
of eristocratic blue blood in IT,
Then, again, friend Hodge, if you don't
pay 81 tax on each 1000 feet of lumber,
Maine, Michigan and other timber
producing states will be deprived of ct
least S25, ,000, or perhaps $50, 900, 600,
Of bonus annually. And lastly, brother
Hodges of Kansas and Nebraska, if you
don't pay tax on timber we in Michigan
and Maine will not eat any of your wheat,
and then you VII be g pauper farmer.
Poor Hodge may scratch his head trying
to find something in it to answer these
forcible arguments. But as he is net
expected to be statistician let me help |.
him out.
OF course the aristocratic home timber |.
dodge against the pauper labor timber of /
CanaCa is pleasantly not worth no. |
ticing. The plea for not being deprived |
of S25,G00 900 bonus is intelligent on /
account of sen-interess inherent in man
kind. But the plea thai the farmers .
wheat is benefited by the consumers OF /
the timber regions is simply g big lie.
And here I'll prove it. The great bulk of .
the lumber produced in the United
States was as follows, according to the
census of 1880:
Michigan. $50, 449, 92s Ohio. .. SI3.sG4. 40
pennsylvania 22,45T,359 Maine. -...... 1885. sos
Wisconsin. II 952 347 Iowa o. ...... G,ISj,62S
Indiana ..... $780, $50 Missouri. 5,26j6l7
New York 4,3J6,9lO Illinois ...... 5,C6SO37
These are the states chiefly interested.
Now, there Sre only three states in the
above list that do not export both wheat
and corn, and they are Maine, New York
and Pennsylvania. In 1880 the state of
New York raised II, 587, 166 bushels of
wheat, and needed about 100000
bushels in addition from all the other
states. Besides this New York produces
over S14,U00,0 900 of lumber annually.
Pennsylvania raised I9,462, 405 bush
els of wheat, and did not need
any wheat raised outside her own state.
The state of Maine consumes about
8, 100000 bushels of wheat end raised
565, ia bushels. That is, this state buys
about 100000 bushels Of wheat outside
her state. Altogether, say, New York
and Maine need 100000 bushels Of
wheat over and above what is raised in
these states. Yet it is iinpudentIy and
asserted that these
Ia, 600, 900 bushels OF wheat consumption {
will affect the total wheat production
Of the country, when we raise about $780,
100000 bushels and export more than
100000, 900 bushels of wheat, including
wheat -four. And, let it be fully under
stood, this argument of consumption OF
cereals is made by the organized army OF
in everything that the farmer
uses, from wood screws 10 horseshoe
nails. But let US come back to Mir. ,
Hodges house. Having paid tax of 81
per 1000 feet on lumber, he pays q tax of
80 per cent on the screws he uses, 40 per !
cent. on the nails, and, OF course, ne
pays tax on the iron hinges and door !
Ccks.
Now, we certainly must put couple of
;oats of paint on friend Hodges house.
rhe tax or duty on white lead is cents a
pound. Although, am bound to the
state, at the present moment there is q
lice little cut-throat competition going
)n between the far west and the east in
he production AID price of white lead,
vhicAfer the time being has reduced the l
1rices| But the duty is 3
,eHts pound, and in 1886 c